by Nick Drew | Fri 01 Apr 2016
Stay calm and operate
We are living in a very angry world these days, bullies on sites, unrealistic time schedules and the general pace of life nowadays can take its stressful toll on plant operators, however a team of scientists have come up with a solution.
It can be a tough job operating machines on site these days and stress levels can often go through the roof on a daily basis. This is not good for anyone’s health of course and now following a 6 month study into the problem by a team of respected international psychologists working in conjunction with scientists at the American Stress Study institute, they have come up with a solution that they feel will help.
The team have designed a touch sensor system on the machines joysticks that constantly measures the operator’s blood pressure during the course of the working day. If the Calm-Optm system senses high stress levels in the operator, it quickly releases a dose of lavender oil into the cab via a diffuser mounted in the rear of the cab. The health benefits of lavender oil are well known especially its ability to eliminate nervous tension associated with stress, tests so far have gone very well with most operators reporting a reduction in stress levels of up to 75% upon application of the spray!
One operator who was involved in the field study tests who prefers to remain anonymous said, “I was right wound up one day and when the system sensed it a big puff of lavender vapour came out, It was amazing, within seconds I felt calm again which was great, the only problem I found with it really was at the end of the day when it’s time to go home I end up smelling like my old granny’s bathroom! But apart from that I reckon it’s a good idea”.
Tests on the system are expected to be complete by April 1st.